Irish tourism figures hit record high

It has been a bumper year for tourism on the island of Ireland, with record numbers of visitors from Britain and the rest of Europe and US tourism reaching its highest level in six years.

Some 8.8 million people will have visited Ireland by the end of 2006, up 8.5 per cent on 2005, according to preliminary figures released by Tourism Ireland yesterday.

The growth in tourism revenue, up 6.4 per cent to € 4.2 billion, is slightly lower, because the greatest areas of growth were seen among lower-spending visitors on short-stay breaks and from eastern Europe.

For the first time the number of visitors from Britain exceeded five million, up 4 per cent on last year. Visitors from other European countries also hit record levels, up 17 per cent to more than 2.3 million.

Visitors from the US, where the traffic slumped following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, showed an 11 per cent increase; numbers topped one million for the first time since 2000. American tourists traditionally spend more and stay longer than other categories of tourists. The growth here, which may be linked to the staging of the Ryder Cup in Ireland earlier this year, is remarkable given the weak dollar.

While over half the 8.8 million visitors this year were not on holidays, the 4.1 million figure for holidaymakers represents an increase of 10 per cent. Some 7.4 million of the visitors came to the Republic, which also claimed €3.7 billion of the €4.2 billion in tourism revenues.

Irish tourism is growing at over twice the rate of international tourism, the figures show. Better marketing, improved internet presence, more flight connections from Irish airports and the continuing allure of Irish culture have been put forward as reasons for the continuing growth in tourism.

Minister for Tourism John O'Donoghue yesterday welcomed the figures as he launched details of Tourism Ireland's plans for further growth next year: "2006 has been one of the best years ever for overseas visits to Ireland and I look forward to even better things in the coming year with the implementation of Tourism Ireland's strategy for growth across all markets."

The Minister said almost €50 million would be provided to market Irish tourism overseas next year and he had no doubt it would be deployed effectively.

A regional breakdown of tourism figures will not be available until next year but Tourism Ireland chief executive Paul O'Toole said there was a more balanced spread of tourists across the regions.

He warned that a number of factors could impinge on the ambitious growth targets for the future. "These include external challenges such as oil prices, currency fluctuations and global socio-economic uncertainty which are essentially outside our control. However, a decline in our value for money rating and tourists' perceptions of a deterioration in the warmth of the Irish welcome and the beauty of our scenery are issues that we can and must tackle and will require a joined-up approach from all players in the tourism industry."

Eamonn McKeon, chief executive of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, said tourism had had a pretty good year but there were concerns about value for money, the weakening dollar and hitches in the transatlantic Open Skies process.

"The industry has delivered this year but the key question is whether we can keep it going," he said.

Tourism Ireland hopes that 9.3 million visitors will come to Ireland in 2007, with spending projected to rise to €4.6 billion.